A Journey in Other Worlds by J. J. Astor

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The protracted struggle between science and the classics appearsto be drawing to a close, with victory about to perch on thebanner of science, as a perusal of almost any university orcollege catalogue shows. While a limited knowledge of both Greekand Latin is important for the correct use of our own language,the amount till recently required, in my judgment, has beenabsurdly out of proportion to the intrinsic value of thesebranches, or perhaps more correctly roots, of study. Theclassics have been thoroughly and painfully threshed out, and itseems impossible that anything new can be unearthed. We mayequal the performances of the past, but there is no opportunityto surpass them or produce anything original. Even themuch-vaunted "mental training" argument is beginning to pall; forwould not anything equally difficult give as good developingresults, while by learning a live matter we kill two birds withone stone? There can be no question that there are many forcesand influences in Nature whose existence we as yet little morethan suspect. How much more interesting it would be if, insteadof reiterating our past achievements, the magazines andliterature of the period should devote their consideration towhat we do NOT know! It is only through investigation andresearch that inventions come; we may not find what we are insearch of, but may discover something of perhaps greater moment. It is probable that the principal glories of the future will befound in as yet but little trodden paths, and as Prof. Cortlandtjustly says at the close of his history, "Next to religion, wehave most to hope from science."

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.CHAPTER I.-JUPITER. II.-ANTECEDENTAL III.-PRESIDENT BEARWARDEN'S SPEECH IV.-PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD IN A.D. 2000 V.-DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED VI.-FAR-REACHING PLANS VII.-HARD AT WORK VIII.-GOOD-BYE

The Callisto and the Comet The Callisto was going straight up The Signals from the Arctic Circle Diagram of the Comparative Sizes of the Planets The Ride on the Giant Tortoise A Battle Royal on Jupiter The Combat with the Dragons Ayrault's Vision They look into the Future The Return

BOOK I.

A JOURNEY IN OTHER WORLDS. ----

CHAPTER 1.

JUPITER.

Jupiter--the magnificent planet with a diameter of 86,500miles, having 119 times the surface and 1,300 times the volume ofthe earth--lay beneath them.

They had often seen it in the terrestrial sky, emitting itsstrong, steady ray, and had thought of that far-away planet,about which till recently so little had been known, and a burningdesire had possessed them to go to it and explore its mysteries. Now, thanks to APERGY, the force whose existence the ancientssuspected, but of which they knew so little, all things werepossible.

Ayrault manipulated the silk-covered glass handles, and theCallisto moved on slowly in comparison with its recent speed,and all remained glued to their telescopes as they peered throughthe rushing clouds, now forming and now dissolving before theireyes. What transports of delight, what ecstatic bliss, wastheirs! Men had discovered and mastered the secret of apergy,and now, "little lower than the angels," they could soar throughspace, leaving even planets and comets behind.

"Is it not strange," said Dr. Cortlandt, "that though it has beenknown for over a century that bodies charged with unlikeelectricities attract one another, and those charged with likerepel, no one thought of utilizing the counterpart ofgravitation? In the nineteenth century, savants and Indianjugglers performed experiments with their disciples and masses ofinert matter, by causing them to remain without visible supportat some distance from the ground; and while many of these, ofcourse, were quacks, some were on the right track, though theydid not push their research."

President Bearwarden and Ayrault assented. They were steeringfor an apparently hard part of the planet's surface, about adegree and a half north of its equator.

"Since Jupiter's axis is almost at right angles to the plane ofits orbit," said the doctor, "being inclined only about onedegree and a half, instead of twenty-three and a half, as was theearth's till nearly so recently, it will be possible for us tohave any climate we wish, from constantly warm at the equator toconstantly cool or cold as we approach the poles, without beingtroubled by extremes of winter and summer."

Until the Callisto entered the planet's atmosphere, its fivemoons appeared like silver shields against the black sky, but nowthings were looking more terrestrial, and they began to feel athome. Bearwarden put down his note-book, and Ayrault returned aphotograph to his pocket, while all three gazed at their newabode. Beneath them was a vast continent variegated by chains oflakes and rivers stretching away in all directions except towardthe equator, where lay a placid ocean as far as their telescopescould pierce. To the eastward were towering and massivemountains, and along the southern border of the continent smokingvolcanoes, while toward the west they saw forests, gently rollingplains, and table-lands that would have satisfied a poet or setan agriculturist's heart at rest. "How I should like to minethose hills for copper, or drain the swamps to the south!"exclaimed Col. Bearwarden. "The Lake Superior mines and thereclamation of the Florida Everglades would be nothing to this."

"Any inhabitants we may find here have so much land at theirdisposal that they will not need to drain swamps on account ofpressure of population for some time," put in the doctor.

"I hope we may find some four-legged inhabitants," said Ayrault,thinking of their explosive magazine rifles. "If Jupiter ispassing through its Jurassic or Mesozoic period, there must beany amount of some kind of game." Just then a quiver shook theCallisto, and glancing to the right they noticed one of thevolcanoes in violent eruption. Smoke filled the air in clouds,hot stones and then floods of lava poured from the crater, whileeven the walls of the hermetically sealed Callisto could notarrest the thunderous crashes that made the interior of the carresound.

"Had we not better move on?" said Bearwarden, and accordinglythey went toward the woods they had first seen. Finding a firmstrip of land between the forest and an arm of the sea, theygently grounded the Callisto, and not being altogether sure howthe atmosphere of their new abode would suit terrestrial lungs,or what its pressure to the square inch might be, they cautiouslyopened a port-hole a crack, retaining their hold upon it with itsscrew. Instantly there was a rush and a whistling sound as ofescaping steam, while in a few moments their barometer stood atthirty-six inches, whereupon they closed the opening.

"I fancy," said Dr. Cortlandt, "we had better wait now till webecome accustomed to this pressure. I do not believe it will gomuch higher, for the window made but little resistance when weshut it."

Finding they were not inconvenienced by a pressure but littlegreater than that of a deep coal-mine, they again opened theport, whereupon their barometer showed a further rise toforty-two, and then remained stationary. Finding also that thechemical composition of the air suited them, and that they had nodifficulty in breathing, the pressure being the same as thatsustained by a diver in fourteen feet of water, they opened adoor and emerged. They knew fairly well what to expect, and werenot disturbed by their new conditions. Though they hadapparently gained a good deal in weight as a result of theirethereal journey, this did not incommode them; for thoughJupiter's volume is thirteen hundred times that of the earth, onaccount of its lesser specific gravity, it has but three hundredtimes the mass--i. e., it would weigh but three hundred times asmuch. Further, although a cubic foot of water or anything elseweighs 2.5 as much as on earth, objects near the equator, onaccount of Jupiter's rapid rotation, weigh one fifth less thanthey do at the poles, by reason of the centrifugal force. Influenced by this fact, and also because they were 483,000,000miles from the sun, instead of 92,000,000 as on earth, they hadsteered for the northern limit of Jupiter's tropics. And, inaddition to this, they could easily apply the apergetic power inany degree to themselves when beyond the limits of the Callisto,and so be attracted to any extent, from twice the pull theyreceive from gravitation on earth to almost nothing.

Bearwarden and Ayrault shouldered their rifles, while Dr.Cortlandt took a repeating shot-gun with No. 4 shot, and, havingalso some hunting-knives and a sextant, all three set out in anorthwesterly direction. The ground was rather soft, and a warmvapor seemed to rise from it. To the east the sky was veiled bydense clouds of smoke from the towering volcanoes, while on theirleft the forest seemed to extend without limit. Clumps of hugeferns were scattered about, and the ground was covered withcurious tracks.

"Jupiter is evidently passing through a Carboniferous or Devonianperiod such as existed on earth, though, if consistent with itssize, it should be on a vastly larger scale," said the doctor. "I never believed in the theory," he continued, "that the largerthe planet the smaller should be its inhabitants, and alwaysconsidered it a makeshift, put forward in the absence of definiteknowledge, the idea being apparently that the weight of verylarge creatures would be too great for their strength. Of thefact that mastodons and creatures far larger than any now livingon earth existed there, we have absolute proof, thoughgravitation must have been practically the same then as now."

Just here they came upon a number of huge bones, evidently theremains of some saurian, and many times the size of a growncrocodile. On passing a growth of most luxuriant vegetation,they saw a half-dozen sacklike objects, and drawing nearernoticed that the tops began to swell, and at the same time becamelighter in colour. Just as the doctor was about to investigateone of them with his duck-shot, the enormously inflated tops ofthe creatures collapsed with a loud report, and the entire groupsoared away. When about to alight, forty yards off, theydistended membranous folds in the manner of wings, which checkedtheir descent, and on touching the ground remained where theywere without rebound.

"We expected to find all kinds of reptiles and birds," exclaimedthe doctor. "But I do not know how we should class thosecreatures. They seem to have pneumatic feet and legs, for theirmotion was certainly not produced like that of frogs."

When the party came up with them the heads again began to swell.

"I will perforate the air-chamber of one," said Col. Bearwarden,withdrawing the explosive cartridge from the barrel of his rifleand substituting one with a solid ball. "This will doubtlessdisable one so that we can examine it."

Just as they were about to rise, he shot the largest through theneck. All but the wounded one, soared off, while Bearwarden,Ayrault, and Cortlandt approached to examine it more closely.

"You see," said Cortlandt, "this vertebrate--for that is asdefinitely as we can yet describe it--forces a great pressure ofair into its head and neck, which, by the action of valves, itmust allow to rush into its very rudimentary lower extremities,distending them with such violence that the body is shot upwardand forward. You may have noticed the tightly inflated portionunderneath as they left the ground."

While speaking he had moved rather near, when suddenly apartially concealed mouth opened, showing the unmistakable tongueand fangs of a serpent. It emitted a hissing sound, and thesmall eyes gleamed maliciously.

"Do you believe it is a poisonous species?" asked Ayrault.

"I suspect it is," replied the doctor; "for, though it isdoubtless able to leap with great accuracy upon its prey, we sawit took some time to recharge the upper air-chamber, so that,were it not armed with poison glands, it would fall an easyvictim to its more powerful and swifter contemporaries, and wouldsoon become extinct."

"As it will be unable to spring for some time," said Bearwarden,"we might as well save it the disappointment of trying," and,snapping the used shell from his rifle, he fired an explosiveball into the reptile, whereupon about half the body disappeared,while a sickening odour arose. Although the sun was still farabove the horizon, the rapidity with which it was descendingshowed that the short night of less than five hours would soon beupon them; and though short it might be very dark, for they werein the tropics, and the sun, going down perpendicularly, mustalso pass completely around the globe, instead of, as in northernlatitudes on earth in summer, approaching the horizon obliquely,and not going far below it. A slight and diffused sound hereseemed to rise from the ground all about them, for which theycould not account. Presently it became louder, and as the suntouched the horizon, it poured forth in prolonged strains. Thelarge trumpet-shaped lilies, reeds, and heliotropes seemed fairlyto throb as they raised their anthem to the sky and the settingsun, while the air grew dark with clouds of birds that graduallyalighted on the ground, until, as the chorus grew fainter andgradually ceased, they flew back to their nests. The threecompanions had stood astonished while this act was played. Thedoctor then spoke:

"This is the most marvellous development of Nature I have seen,for its wonderful divergence from, and yet analogy to, what takesplace on earth. You know our flowers offer honey, as it were, asbait to insects, that in eating or collecting it they may catchthe pollen on their legs and so carry it to other flowers,perhaps of the opposite sex. Here flowers evidently appeal tothe sense of hearing instead of taste, and make use of birds, ofwhich there are enormous numbers, instead of winged insects, ofwhich I have seen none, one being perhaps the natural result ofthe other. The flowers have become singers by long practice, orelse, those that were most musical having had the best chance toreproduce, we have a neat illustration of the 'survival of thefittest.' The sound is doubtless produced by a shrinking of thefibres as the sun withdraws its heat, in which case we may expectanother song at sunrise, when the same result will be effected bytheir expanding."

Searching for a camping-place in which to pass the coming hours,they saw lights flitting about like will-o'-the-wisps, butbrighter and intermittent.

"They seem to be as bright as sixteen-candle-power lamps, but thelight is yellower, and appears to emanate from a comparativelylarge surface, certainly nine or ten inches square," said thedoctor.

They soon gave up the chase, however, for the lights werecontinually moving and frequently went out. While groping in thegrowing darkness, they came upon a brown object about the size ofa small dog and close to the ground. It flew off with a humminginsect sound, and as it did so it showed the brilliantphosphorescent glow they had observed.

"That is a good-sized fire-fly," said Bearwarden. "Evidently theinsects here are on the same scale as everything else. They arelike the fire-flies in Cuba, which the Cubans are said to putinto a glass box and get light enough from to read by. Here theywould need only one, if it could be induced to give its lightcontinuously."

Having found an open space on high ground, they sat down, andBearwarden struck his repeater, which, for convenience, had beenarranged for Jupiter time, dividing the day into ten hours,beginning at noon, midnight being therefore five o'clock.

"Twenty minutes past four," said he, "which would correspond toabout a quarter to eleven on earth. As the sun rises athalf-past seven, it will be dark about three hours, for the timebetween dawn and daylight will, of course, be as short as that wehave just experienced between sunset and night."

"If we stay here long," said the doctor, "I suppose we shallbecome accustomed, like sailors, to taking our four, or in thiscase five, hours on duty, and five hours off."

"Or," added Ayrault, "we can sleep ten consecutive hours and takethe next ten for exploring and hunting, having the sun for onehalf the time and the moons for the other."

Bearwarden and Cortlandt now rolled themselves in their blanketsand were soon asleep, while Ayrault, whose turn it was to watchtill the moons rose--for they had not yet enough confidence intheir new domain to sleep in darkness simultaneously--leaned hisback against a rock and lighted his pipe. In the distance he sawthe torrents of fiery lava from the volcanoes reflected in thesky, and faintly heard their thunderous crashes, while thefire-flies twinkled unconcernedly in the hollow, and the nightwinds swayed the fernlike branches. Then he gazed at the earth,which, but little above the horizon, shone with a faint butsteady ray, and his mind's eye ran beyond his natural visionwhile he pictured to himself the girl of his heart, wishing thatby some communion of spirits he might convey his thoughts to her,and receive hers. It was now the first week of January on earth. He could almost see her house and the snow-clad trees in thepark, and knew that at that hour she was dressing for dinner, andhoped and believed that he was in her heart. While he thusmused, one moon after another rose, each at a different phase,till three were at once in the sky. Adjusting the electricprotection- wires that were to paralyze any creature thatattempted to come within the circle, and would arouse them byringing a bell, he knocked the ashes from his pipe, rolledhimself in a blanket, and was soon asleep beside his friends.

CHAPTER II.

ANTECEDENTAL.

"Come in!" sounded a voice, as Dr. Cortlandt and Dick Ayraulttapped at the door of the President of the Terrestrial AxisStraightening Company's private office on the morning of the 21stof June, A. D. 2000. Col. Bearwarden sat at his capacious desk,the shadows passing over his face as April clouds flit across thesun. He was a handsome man, and young for the important post hefilled--being scarcely forty--a graduate of West Point, withgreat executive ability, and a wonderful engineer. "Sit down,chappies," said he; "we have still a half hour before I begin toread the report I am to make to the stockholders andrepresentatives of all the governments, which is now ready. Iknow YOU smoke," passing a box of Havanas to the professor.

Prof. Cortlandt, LL. D., United States Government expert,appointed to examine the company's calculations, was about fifty,with a high forehead, greyish hair, and quick, grey eyes, ageologist and astronomer, and altogether as able a man, in hisown way, as Col. Bearwarden in his. Richard Ayrault, a largestockholder and one of the honorary vice-presidents in thecompany, was about thirty, a university man, by nature ascientist, and engaged to one of the prettiest society girls, whowas then a student at Vassar, in the beautiful town ofPoughkeepsie.

"Knowing the way you carry things in your mind, and thedifficulty of rattling you," said Cortlandt, "we have dropped inon our way to hear the speech that I would not miss for afortune. Let us know if we bother you."

"Impossible, dear boy," replied the president genially. "Since Isurvived your official investigations, I think I deserve some ofyour attention informally."

"Here are my final examinations," said Cortlandt, handingBearwarden a roll of papers. "I have been over all your figures,and testify to their accuracy in the appendix I have added."

So they sat and chatted about the enterprise that interestedCortlandt and Ayrault almost as much as Bearwarden himself. Asthe clock struck eleven, the president of the company put on hishat, and, saying au revoir to his friends, crossed the street tothe Opera House, in which he was to read a report that would becopied in all the great journals and heard over thousands ofmiles of wire in every part of the globe. When he arrived, thevast building was already filled with a distinguished company,representing the greatest intelligence, wealth, and powers of theworld. Bearwarden went in by the stage entrance, exchanginggreetings as he did so with officers of the company and directorswho had come to hear him. Cortlandt and Ayrault entered by theregular door, the former going to the Government representatives'box, the latter to join his fiancee, Sylvia Preston, who wasthere with her mother. Bearwarden had a roll of manuscript athand, but so well did he know his speech that he scarcely glancedat it. After being introduced by the chairman of the meeting,and seeing that his audience was all attention, he began, holdinghimself erect, his clear, powerful voice making every part of thebuilding ring.

CHAPTER III.

PRESIDENT BEARWARDEN'S SPEECH.

"To the Bondholders and Stockholders of the Terrestrial AxisStraightening Company and Representatives of Earthly Governments.

"GENTLEMEN: You know that the objects of this company are, tostraighten the axis of the earth, to combine the extreme heat ofsummer with the intense cold of winter and produce a uniformtemperature for each degree of latitude the year round. Atpresent the earth's axis--that is, the line passing through itscentre and the two poles--is inclined to the ecliptic abouttwenty-three and a half degrees. Our summer is produced by thenorthern hemisphere's leaning at that angle towards the sun, andour winter by its turning that much from it. In one case thesun's rays are caused to shine more perpendicularly, and in theother more obliquely. This wabbling, like that of a top, is thesole cause of the seasons; since, owing to the eccentricity ofour orbit, the earth is actually fifteen hundred thousand milesnearer the sun during our winter, in the northern hemisphere,than in summer. That there is no limit to a planet'sinclination, and that inclination is not essential, we haveastronomical proof. Venus's axis is inclined to the plane of herorbit seventy-five degrees, so that the arctic circle comeswithin fifteen degrees of the equator, and the tropics alsoextend to latitude seventy-five degrees, or within fifteendegrees of the poles, producing great extremes of heat and cold.

"Venus is made still more difficult of habitation by the factthat she rotates on her axis in the same time that she revolvesabout the sun, in the same way that the moon does about theearth, so that one side must be perpetually frozen while theother is parched.

"In Uranus we see the axis tilted still further, so that thearctic circle descends to the equator. The most varied climatemust therefore prevail during its year, whose length exceedseighty-one of ours.

The axis of Mars is inclined about twenty-eight and two thirdsdegrees to the plane of its orbit; consequently its seasons mustbe very similar to ours, the extremes of heat and cold beingsomewhat greater.

"In Jupiter we have an illustration of a planet whose axis isalmost at right angles to the plane of its orbit, being inclinedbut about a degree and a half. The hypothetical inhabitants ofthis majestic planet must therefore have perpetual summer at theequator, eternal winter at the poles, and in the temperateregions everlasting spring. On account of the straightness ofthe axis, however, even the polar inhabitants--if there areany--are not oppressed by a six months' night, for all exceptthose at the VERY pole have a sunrise and a sunset every tenhours--the exact day being nine hours, fifty five minutes, andtwenty-eight seconds. The warmth of the tropics is also temperedby the high winds that must result from the rapid whirl on itsaxis, every object at the equator being carried around by this atthe rate of 27,600 miles an hour, or over three thousand milesfarther than the earth's equator moves in twenty-four hours.

"The inclination of the axis of our own planet has alsofrequently considerably exceeded that of Mars, and again has beenbut little greater than Jupiter's at least, this is by all oddsthe most reasonable explanation of the numerous Glacial periodsthrough which our globe has passed, and of the recurring mildspells, probably lasting thousands of years, in which elephants,mastodons, and other semi-tropical vertebrates roamed in Siberia,some of which died so recently that their flesh, preserved by thecold, has been devoured by the dogs of modern explorers.

"It is not to be supposed that the inclining of the axes ofJupiter, Venus, the Earth, and the other planets, is now fixed;in some cases it is known to be changing. As long ago as 1890,Major-Gen. A. W. Drayson, of the British Army, showed, in a workentitled Untrodden Ground in Astronomy and Geology, that, as aresult of the second rotation of the earth, the inclination ofits axis was changing, it having been 23@ 28' 23" on January 1,1750, 23@ 27' 55.3" on January 1, 1800, and 23@ 27' 30.9" onJanuary 1, 1850; and by calculation one hundred and ten years agoshowed that in 1900 (one hundred years ago) it would be 23@ 27'08.8". This natural straightening is, of course, going on, andwe are merely about to anticipate it. When this improvement wasmooted, all agreed that the EXTREMES of heat and cold could wellbe spared. 'Balance those of summer against those of winter bypartially straightening the axis; reduce the inclination fromtwenty-three degrees, thirty minutes, to about fifteen degrees,but let us stop there,' many said. Before we had gone far,however, we found it would be best to make the work complete. This will reclaim and make productive the vast areas of Siberiaand the northern part of this continent, and will do much for theantarctic regions; but there will still be change in temperature;a wind blowing towards the equator will always be colder than oneblowing from it, while the slight eccentricity of the orbit willsupply enough change to awaken recollections of seasons in oureternal spring.

"The way to accomplish this is to increase the weight of the poleleaving the sun, by increasing the amount of material there forthe sun to attract, and to lighten the pole approaching orturning towards the sun, by removing some heavy substance fromit, and putting it preferably at the opposite pole. Thisshifting of ballast is most easily accomplished, as you willreadily perceive, by confining and removing water, which iseasily moved and has a considerable weight. How we purpose toapply these aqueous brakes to check the wabbling of the earth, bymeans of the attraction of the sun, you will now see.

"From Commander Fillmore, of the Arctic Shade and the Committeeon Bulkheads and Dams, I have just received the following bycable telephone: 'The Arctic Ocean is now in condition to bepumped out in summer and to have its average depth increased onehundred feet by the dams in winter. We have already fiftymillion square yards of windmill turbine surface in position andready to move. The cables bringing us currents from the dynamosat Niagara Falls are connected with our motors, and those fromthe tidal dynamos at the Bay of Fundy will be in contact whenthis reaches you, at which moment the pumps will begin. Inseveral of the landlocked gulfs and bays our system of confiningis so complete, that the surface of the water can be raised twohundred feet above sea- level. The polar bears will soon have touse artificial ice. Perhaps the cheers now ringing without mayreach you over the telephone.'"

The audience became greatly interested, and when the end of thetelephone was applied to a microphone the room fairly rang withexultant cheers, and those looking through a kintograph (visualtelegraph) terminating in a camera obscura on the shores ofBaffin Bay were able to see engineers and workmen waving andthrowing up their caps and falling into one another's arms inecstasies of delight. When the excitement subsided, thepresident continued:

"Chairman Wetmore, of the Committee on Excavations andEmbankments in Wilkesland and the Antarctic Continent, reports:'Two hundred and fifty thousand square miles are now hollowed outand enclosed sufficiently to hold water to an average depth offour hundred feet. Every summer, when the basin is allowed todrain, we can, if necessary, extend our reservoir, and shall havethe best season of the year for doing work until the earth haspermanent spring. Though we have comparatively little water ortidal power, the earth's crust is so thin at this latitude, onaccount of the flattening, that by sinking our tubular boilersand pipes to a depth of a few thousand feet we have secured soterrific a volume of superheated steam that, in connection withour wind turbines, we shall have no difficulty in raising half acubic mile of water a minute to our enclosure, which is butlittle above sea-level, and into which, till the pressureincreases, we can fan or blow the water, so that it can be fullthree weeks after our longest day, or, since the presentunimproved arrangement gives the indigenes but one day and nighta year, I will add the 21st day of December.

"'We shall be able to find use for much of the potential energyof the water in the reservoir when we allow it to escape in June,in melting some of the accumulated polar ice-cap, therebydecreasing still further the weight of this pole, in lighting andwarming ourselves until we get the sun's light and heat, inextending the excavations, and in charging the storage batteriesof the ships at this end of the line. Everything will be readywhen you signal "Raise water."'"

"Let me add parenthetically," said Bearwarden, "that this meansof obtaining power by steam boilers sunk to a great depth is muchto be commended; for, though the amount of heat we can withdrawis too small to have much effect, the farther towards the centreour globe can be cooled the deeper will the water of the oceansbe able to penetrate--since it is its conversion into steam thatprevents the water from working its way in farther--and the moredry land we shall have."

"You see," the president continued, "the storage capacity at thesouth pole is not quite as great as at the north, because it ismore difficult to excavate a basin than to close the exits of onethat already exists, which is what we have done in the arctic. The work is also not so nearly complete, since it will not benecessary to use the southern reservoir for storing weight forsix months, or until the south pole, which is now at its maximumdeclination from the sun, is turned towards it and begins to moveaway; then, by increasing the amount of matter there, and at thesame time lightening the north pole, and reversing the processevery six months, we decrease the speed at which the departingpole leaves the sun and at which the approaching pole advances. The north pole, we see, will be a somewhat more powerful leverthan the south for working the globe to a straight position, butwe may be sure that the latter, in connection with the former,will be able to hold up its end."

[The building here fairly shook with applause, so that, had thearctic workers used the microphone, they might have heard in theenthusiastic uproar a good counterpart of their own period.]

"I only regret," the president continued, "that when we beganthis work the most marvellous force yet discovered--apergy--wasnot sufficiently understood to be utilized, for it would haveeased our labours to the point of almost eliminating them. Butwe have this consolation: it was in connection with our work thatits applicability was discovered, so that had we and all otherspostponed our great undertaking on the pretext of waiting for anew force, apergy might have continued to lie dormant forcenturies. With this force, obtained by simply blending negativeand positive electricity with electricity of the third element orstate, and charging a body sufficiently with this fluid,gravitation is nullified or partly reversed, and the earth repelsthe body with the same or greater power than that with which itstill attracts or attracted it, so that it may be suspended orcaused to move away into space. Sic itur ad astra, we may say. With this force and everlasting spring before us, what may we notachieve? We may some day be able to visit the planets, thoughmany may say that, since the axes of most of those we haveconsidered are more inclined than ours, they would rather stayhere. 'Blessed are they that shall inherit the earth,'" he wenton, turning a four-foot globe with its axis set vertically and atright angles to a yellow globe labelled "Sun"; and again waxingeloquent, he added: "We are the instruments destined to bringabout the accomplishment of that prophecy, for never in thehistory of the world has man reared so splendid a monument to hisown genius as he will in straightening the axis of the planet.

"No one need henceforth be troubled by sudden change, and everyman can have perpetually the climate he desires. Northern Europewill again luxuriate in a climate that favoured the elephantsthat roamed in northern Asia and Switzerland. To produce theseanimals and the food they need, it is not necessary to have greatheat, but merely to prevent great cold, half the summer's sunbeing absorbed in melting the winter's accumulation of ice.

"When the axis has reached a point at which it inclines but abouttwelve degrees, it will become necessary to fill the antarcticreservoir in June and the Arctic Ocean in December, in order tocheck the straightening, since otherwise it might get beyond theperpendicular and swing the other way. When this motion iscompletely arrested, I suggest that we blow up the Aleutian Islesand enlarge Bering Strait, so as to allow what corresponds to theAtlantic Gulf Stream in the Pacific to enter the ArcticArchipelago, which I have calculated will raise the averagetemperature of that entire region about thirty degrees, therebystill further increasing the amount of available land.

"Ocean currents, being the result of the prevailing winds, whichwill be more regular than at present, can be counted upon tocontinue practically as they are. It may not be plain to you whythe trade winds do not blow towards the equator due south andnorth, since the equator has much the same effect on air that astove has in the centre of a room, causing an ascending currenttowards the ceiling, which moves off in straight lines in alldirections on reaching it, its place being taken by cold currentsmoving in opposite directions along the floor. Picture toyourselves the ascending currents at the equator moving off tothe poles from which they came. As they move north they arecontinually coming to parts of the globe having smaller circlesof latitude than those they have left, and therefore not movedforward as rapidly by the earth's daily rotation as the latitudesnearer the equator. The winds consequently run ahead of thesurface, and so move east of north--the earth turning towards theeast--while the heavier colder surface currents, rushing towardsthe equator to take the place of the ascending column, comingfrom regions where the surface whirls comparatively slowly tothose where it is rotating faster, are continually left behind,and so move southwest; while south of the equator a correspondingmotion results. Though this is not the most exact explanation,it may serve to make the action clear. I will add, that if anyone prefers a colder or a warmer climate than that of the placein which he lives, he need only go north or south for an hour;or, if he prefers his own latitude, he can rise a few thousandfeet in the air, or descend to one of the worked-out coal-mineswhich are now used as sanitariums, and secure his object by aslight change of altitude. Let us speed the departure of rackingchanges and extremes of climate, and prepare to welcome what webelieve prevails in paradise--namely, everlasting spring."

Appended to the address was the report of the GovernmentExamining Committee, which ran: "We have critically examined theTerrestrial Axis Straightening Company's figures andcalculations, also its statements involving natural philosophy,physics, and astronomy, all of which we find correct, and herebyapprove.

[Signed] "For the Committee:

"HENRY CHELMSFORD CORTLANDT,

"Chairman."

The Board of Directors having ratified the acts of its officers,and passed congratulatory resolutions, the meeting adjourned sinedie.

CHAPTER IV.

PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD

IN A. D. 2000.

Prof. Cortlandt, preparing a history of the times at thebeginning of the great terrestrial and astronomical change, wroteas follows: "This period--A.D. 2000--is by far the mostwonderful the world has as yet seen. The advance in scientificknowledge and attainment within the memory, of the presentgeneration has been so stupendous that it completely overshadowsall that has preceded. All times in history and all periods ofthe world have been remarkable for some distinctive orcharacteristic trait. The feature of the period of Louis XIV wasthe splendour of the court and the centralization of power inParis. The year 1789 marked the decline of the power of courtsand the evolution of government by the people. So, by the spreadof republican ideas and the great advance in science, educationhas become universal, for women as well as for men, and this ismore than ever a mechanical age.

"With increased knowledge we are constantly coming to realize howlittle we really know, and are also continually findingmanifestations of forces that at first seem like exceptions toestablished laws. This is, of course, brought about by themodifying influence of some other natural law, though many ofthese we have not yet discovered.

"Electricity in its varied forms does all work, having supersededanimal and manual labour in everything, and man has only todirect. The greatest ingenuity next to finding new uses for thisalmost omnipotent fluid has been displayed in inducing the forcesof Nature, and even the sun, to produce it. Before describingthe features of this perfection of civilization, let us reviewthe steps by which society and the political world reached theirpresent state.

"At the close of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871, ContinentalEurope entered upon the condition of an armed camp, which lastedfor nearly half a century. The primary cause of this was themutual dislike and jealousy of France and Germany, each of whichstrove to have a larger and better equipped national defence thanthe other. There were also many other causes, as the ambition ofthe Russian Czar, supported by his country's vast thoughimperfectly developed resources and practically unlimited supplyof men, one phase of which was the constant ferment in the BalkanPeninsula, and another Russia's schemes for extension in Asia;another was the general desire for colonies in Africa, in whichone Continental power pretty effectually blocked another, and thelatent distrust inside the Triple Alliance. England, meanwhile,preserved a wise and profitable neutrality.

"These tremendous sacrifices for armaments, both on land andwater, had far-reaching results, and, as we see it now, wereclouds with silver linings. The demand for hardened steelprojectiles, nickel-steel plates, and light and almostunbreakable machinery, was a great incentive to improvement inmetallurgy while the necessity for compact and safely carriedammunition greatly stimulated chemical research, and led to thediscovery of explosives whose powers no obstacle can resist, andincidentally to other more useful things.

"Further mechanical and scientific progress, however, such asflying machines provided with these high explosives, andasphyxiating bombs containing compressed gas that could be firedfrom guns or dropped from the air, intervened. The former wouldhave laid every city in the dust, and the latter might havealmost exterminated the race. These discoveries providentiallyprevented hostilities, so that the 'Great War,' so long expected,never came, and the rival nations had their pains for nothing,or, rather, for others than themselves.

"Let us now examine the political and ethnological results. Hundreds of thousands, of the flower of Continental Europe werekilled by overwork and short rations, and millions of desirableand often--unfortunately for us--undesirable people were drivento emigration, nearly all of whom came to English-speakingterritory, greatly increasing our productiveness and power. As,we have seen, the jealousy of the Continental powers for oneanother effectually prevented their extending their influence orprotectorates to other continents, which jealousy wasconsiderably aided by the small but destructive wars that didtake place. High taxes also made it more difficult for themoneyed men to invest in colonizing or development companies,which are so often the forerunners of absorption; while theUnited States, with her coal--of which the Mediterranean stateshave scarcely any--other resources, and low taxes, which, thoughnecessary, can be nothing but an evil, has been able to expandnaturally as no other nation ever has before.

"This has given the English-speakers, especially the UnitedStates, a free hand, rendering enforcement of the Monroe doctrineeasy, and started English a long way towards becoming theuniversal language, while all formerly unoccupied land is nowowned by those speaking it.

"At the close of our civil war, in 1865, we had but 3,000,000square miles, and a population of 34,000,000. The countrystaggered beneath a colossal debt of over $4,000,000,000, had anexpensive but essentially perishable navy, and there was anominous feeling between the sections. The purchase of Alaska in1867, by which we added over half a million square miles to ourterritory, marked the resumption of the forward march of theUnited States. Twenty-five years later, at the presidentialcampaign of 1892, the debt had been reduced to $900,000,000,deducting the sinking fund, and the charge for pensions had aboutreached its maximum and soon began to decrease, though no oneobjected to any amount of reward for bona fide soldiers who hadhelped to save the country. The country's wealth had alsoenormously increased, while the population had grown to65,000,000. Our ancestors had, completed or in building, a navyof which no nation need be ashamed; and, though occasionallymarred by hard times, there was general prosperity.

"Gradually the different States of Canada--or provinces, as theywere then called--came to realize that their future would be fargrander and more glorious in union with the United States thanseparated from it; and also that their sympathy was far strongerfor their nearest neighbours than for any one else. One by onethese Northern States made known their desire for consolidationwith the Union, retaining complete control of their localaffairs, as have the older States. They were gladly welcomed byour Government and people, and possible rivals became the best offriends. Preceding and also following this, the States ofMexico, Central America, and parts of South America, tiring ofthe incessant revolutions and difficulties among themselves,which had pretty constantly looked upon us as a big brother onaccount of our maintenance of the Monroe doctrine, began toagitate for annexation, knowing they would retain control oftheir local affairs. In this they were vigorously supported bythe American residents and property-holders, who knew that theirpossessions would double in value the day the United StatesConstitution was signed.

"Thus, in the first place, by the encouragement of our people,and latterly, apparently, by its own volition, the Union hasincreased enormously in power, till it now embraces 10,000,000square miles, and has a free and enlightened population of300,000,000. Though the Union established by Washington and hiscontemporaries has attained such tremendous proportions, itsgrowth is by no means finished; and as a result of modernimprovements, it is less of a journey now to go from Alaska tothe Orinoco than it was for the Father of his Country to travelfrom New York or Philadelphia to the site of the city named inhis honour.

"Adequate and really rapid transportation facilities have donemuch to bind the different parts of the country together, and torub off the edges of local prejudice. Though we always favourpeace, no nation would think of opposing the expressed wishes ofthe United States, and our moral power for good is tremendous. The name Japhet means enlargement, and the prophecy seems aboutto be literally fulfilled by these his descendants. The bankruptsuffering of so many European Continental powers had also otherresults. It enabled the socialists--who have never been able tosee beyond themselves--to force their governments into sellingtheir colonies in the Eastern hemisphere to England, and theirislands in the Western to us, in order to realize upon them. With the addition of Canada to the United States and its loss tothe British Empire, the land possessions of the two powers becameabout equal, our Union being a trifle the larger. All danger ofwar being removed by the Canadian change, a healthful andfriendly competition took its place, the nations competing intheir growth on different hemispheres. England easily addedlarge areas in Asia and Africa, while the United States grew aswe have seen. The race is still, in a sense, neck-and-neck, andthe English-speakers together possess nearly half the globe. Theworld's recent rate of progress would have been impossiblewithout this approximation to a universal language. The causesthat checkmated the Continental powers have ceased to exist. Many millions of men whose principal thought had been to destroyother members of the race became producers, but it was then toolate, for the heavy armaments had done their work.

"Let us now glance at the times as they are, and see how thebusiness of life is transacted. Manhattan Island has somethingover 2,500,000 inhabitants, and is surrounded by a belt ofpopulation, several miles wide, of 12,000,000 more, of which itis the focus, so that the entire city contains more than14,500,000 souls. The several hundred square miles of land andwater forming greater New York are perfectly united by numerousbridges, tunnels, and electric ferries, while the city's greatnatural advantages have been enhanced and beautified by everyingenious device. No main avenue in the newer sections is lessthan two hundred feet wide, containing shade and fruit trees, abridle-path, broad sidewalks, and open spaces for carriages andbicycles. Several fine diagonal streets and breathing-squareshave also been provided in the older sections, and the existingparks have been supplemented by intermediate ones, all beingconnected by parkways to form continuous chains.

"The hollow masts of our ships--to glance at another phase enpassant--carry windmills instead of sails, through which the windperforms the work, of storing a great part of the energy requiredto run them at sea, while they are discharging or loading cargoin port; and it can, of course, work to better advantage whilethey are stationary than when they are running before it. Theseturbines are made entirely of light metal, and fold when not inuse, so that only the frames are visible. Sometimes these alsofold and are housed, or wholly disappear within the mast. Steam-boilers are also placed at the foci of huge concavemirrors, often a hundred feet in diameter, the required heatbeing supplied by the sun, without smoke, instead of by bulky anddirty coal. This discovery gave commercial value to Sahara andother tropical deserts, which are now desirable for mill-sitesand for generating power, on account of the directness with whichthey receive the sun's rays and their freedom from clouds. Mileafter mile Africa has been won for the uses of civilization, tillgreat stretches that were considered impassible are as productiveas gardens. Our condensers, which compress, cool, and rarefyair, enabling travellers to obtain water and even ice from theatmosphere, are great aids in desert exploration, removingabsolutely the principal distress of the ancient caravan. Theerstwhile 'Dark Continent' has a larger white population now thanNorth America had a hundred years ago, and has this advantage forthe future, that it contains 11,600,000 square miles, while NorthAmerica has less than 9,000,000. Every part of the globe willsoon sustain about as large and prosperous a population as theamount of energy it receives from the sun and other sources willwarrant; public debts and the efficiency of the governments beingthe variable elements.

"The rabbits in Australia, and the far more objectionablepoisonous snakes in South America and India, have beenexterminated by the capture of a few dozen of the creatures inthe infested districts, their inoculation with the virus similarto the murus tiphi, tuberculosis or any other contagious-germcomplaint to which the species treated was particularlysusceptible, and the release of these individuals when thedisease was seen to be taking hold. The rabbits and serpentsreleased at once returned to their old haunts, carrying theplague far and wide. The unfortunate rabbits were greatlycommiserated even by the medicos that wielded the death-dealingsyringe; but, fortunately for themselves, they died easily. Thereptiles, perhaps on account of the wider distribution of thenerve centres, had more lingering but not painful deaths, often,while in articulo mortis, leaving the holes with which theyseemed to connect their discomfort, and making a final strugglealong the ground, only to die more quickly as a result of theirexertions. We have applied this also to the potato-bug, locust,and other insect pests, no victim being too small for theubiquitous, subtle germ, which, properly cultivated and utilized,has become one of man's best friends.

"We have microbe tests that show us as unmistakably whether thegerms of any particular disease--like malaria, typhoid, orscarlet fever--are present in the air, as litmus-paper showsalkalinity of a solution. We also inoculate as a preventiveagainst these and almost all other germ diseases, with the samesuccess that we vaccinate for smallpox.

"The medicinal properties of all articles of food are so wellunderstood also, that most cures are brought about simply bydieting. This, reminds me of the mistakes perpetrated on afriend of mine who called in Dr. Grave-Powders, one of theold-school physicians, to be treated for insomnia and dyspepsia. This old numskull restricted his diet, gave him huge doses ofmedicine, and decided most learnedly that he was daily growingworse. Concluding that he had but a short time to live, myfriend threw away the nauseating medicines, ate whatever he had anatural desire for, and was soon as well as ever--the obviousmoral of which is, that we can get whatever treatment we needmost beneficially from our food. Our physicians are most seriousand thoughtful men. They never claim to be infallible, but studyscientifically to increase their knowledge and improve themethods of treatment. As a result of this, fresh air, regularexercise for both sexes, with better conditions, and thepreservation of the lives of children that formerly died bythousands from preventable causes, the physique, especially ofwomen, is wonderfully improved, and the average longevity isalready over sixty.

"Our social structure, to be brief, is based on science, or theconservation of energy, as the Greek philosophers predicted. Itwas known to them that a certain amount of power would produceonly a certain amount of work--that is, the weight of a clock indescending or a spring in uncoiling returns theoretically theamount of work expended in raising or coiling it, and in nopossible way can it do more. In practice, on account offriction, etc., we know it does less. This law, beinginvariable, of course limits us, as it did Archimedes andPythagoras; we have simply utilized sources of power that theirclumsy workmen allowed to escape. Of the four principalsources--food, fuel, wind, and tide--including harnessedwaterfalls, the last two do by far the most work. Much of theelectrical energy in every thunderstorm is also captured andcondensed in our capacious storage batteries, as natural hygeiain the form of rain was and is still caught in our countrycisterns. Every exposed place is crowned by a cluster of hugewindmills that lift water to some pond or reservoir placed ashigh as possible. Every stiff breeze, therefore, raises millionsof tons of water which operate hydraulic turbines as required. Incidentally these storage reservoirs, by increasing the surfaceexposed to evaporation and the consequent rainfall, have a verybeneficial effect on the dry regions in the interior of thecontinent, and in some cases have almost superseded irrigation. The windmill and dynamo thus utilize bleak mountain-tops that,till their discovery, seemed to be but indifferent successes inDame Nature's domain. The electricity generated by these, inconnection with that obtained by waterfalls, tidal dynamos,thunderstorms, chemical action, and slow-movingquadruple-expansion steam engines, provides the power required torun our electric ships and water-spiders, railways, andstationary and portable motors, for heating the cables laid alongthe bottom of our canals to prevent their freezing in winter, andfor almost every conceivable purpose. Sometimes a man has awindmill on his roof for light and heat; then, the harder thewintry blasts may blow the brighter and warmer becomes the house,the current passing through a storage battery to make it moresteady. The operation of our ordinary electric railways is verysimple: the current is taken from an overhead, side, orunderneath wire, directly through the air, without theintervention of a trolley, and the fast cars, for they are nolonger run in trains, make five miles a minute. The entireweight of each car being used for its own traction, it can ascendvery steep grades, and can attain high speed or stop veryquickly.

"Another form is the magnetic railway, on which the cars arewedge-shaped at both ends, and moved by huge magnets weighingfour thousand tons each, placed fifty miles apart. On passing amagnet, the nature of the electricity charging a car isautomatically changed from positive to negative, or vice versa,to that of the magnet just passed, so that it repels while thenext attracts. The successive magnets are charged oppositely,the sections being divided halfway between by insulators, thenature of the electricity in each section being governed by thecharge in the magnet. To prevent one kind of electricity fromuniting with and neutralizing that in the next section by passingthrough the car at the moment of transit, there is a "deadstretch" of fifty yards with rails not charged at all between thesections. This change in the nature of the electricity isrepeated automatically every fifty miles, and obviates thenecessity of revolving machinery, the rails aiding communication.

"Magnetism being practically as instantaneous as gravitation, theonly limitations to speed are the electrical pressure at themagnets, the resistance of the air, and the danger of the wheelsbursting from centrifugal force. The first can seemingly beincreased without limit; the atmospheric resistance is about tobe reduced by running the cars hermetically sealed through apartial vacuum in a steel and toughened glass tube; while thethird has been removed indefinitely by the use of galvanizedaluminum, which bears about the same relation to ordinaryaluminum that steel does to iron, and which has twice the tensilestrength and but one third the weight of steel. In some casesthe rails are made turned in, so that it would be impossible fora car to leave the track without the road-bed's being totallydemolished; but in most cases this is found to be unnecessary,for no through line has a curve on its vast stretches with aradius of less than half a mile. Rails, one hundred and sixtypounds to the yard, are set in grooved steel ties, which in turnare held by a concrete road-bed consisting of broken stone andcement, making spreading rails and loose ballast impossible. Alarge increase in capital was necessary for these improvements,the elimination of curves being the most laborious part,requiring bridges, cuttings, and embankments that dwarf thePyramids and would have made the ancient Pharaohs open theireyes; but with the low rate of interest on bonds, the slight costof power, and great increase in business, the venture was asuccess, and we are now in sight of further advances that willenable a traveller in a high latitude moving west to keep pacewith the sun, and, should he wish it, to have unending day."

CHAPTER V.

DR. CORTLANDT'S HISTORY CONTINUED.

"In marine transportation we have two methods, one for freightand another for passengers. The old-fashioned deeply immersedship has not changed radically from the steam and sailing vesselsof the last century, except that electricity has superseded allother motive powers. Steamers gradually passed through the fivehundred-, six hundred-, and seven hundred-foot-long class, withother dimensions in proportion, till their length exceeded onethousand feet. These were very fast ships, crossing the Atlanticin four and a half days, and were almost as steady as houses, ineven the roughest weather.

"Ships at this period of their development had also passedthrough the twin and triple screw stage to the quadruple, allfour together developing one hundred and forty thousand indicatedhorse-power, and being driven by steam. This, of course,involved sacrificing the best part of the ship to her engines,and a very heavy idle investment while in port. Storagebatteries, with plates composed of lead or iron, constantlyincreasing in size, had reached a fair state of development bythe close of the nineteenth century.

"During the second decade of the twentieth century the engineersdecided to try the plan of running half of a transatlanticliner's screws by electricity generated by the engines fordriving the others while the ship was in port, this having been asuccess already on a smaller scale. For a time this plan gavegreat satisfaction, since it diminished the amount of coal to becarried and the consequent change of displacement at sea, andenabled the ship to be worked with a smaller number of men. Thebatteries could also, of course, be distributed along the entirelength, and placed where space was least valuable.

"The construction of such huge vessels called for muchgovernmental river and harbour dredging, and a ship drawingthirty-five feet can now enter New York at any state of the tide. For ocean bars, the old system of taking the material out to seaand discharging it still survives, though a jet of water fromforce-pumps directed against the obstruction is also oftenemployed with quick results. For river work we have discovered abetter method. All the mud is run back, sometimes over a milefrom the river bank, where it is used as a fertilizer, by meansof wire railways strung from poles. These wire cables combine inthemselves the functions of trolley wire and steel rail, andcarry the suspended cars, which empty themselves and returnaround the loop for another load. Often the removed materialentirely fills small, saucer-shaped valleys or low places, inwhich case it cannot wash back. This improvement has ended thenecessity of building jetties.

"The next improvement in sea travelling was the 'marine spider.' As the name shows, this is built on the principle of an insect. It is well known that a body can be carried over the water muchfaster than through it. With this in mind, builders at firstconstructed light framework decks on large water-tight wheels ordrums, having paddles on their circumferences to provide a holdon the water. These they caused to revolve by means of machineryon the deck, but soon found that the resistance offered to thebarrel wheels themselves was too great. They therefore made themmore like centipeds with large, bell-shaped feet, connected witha superstructural deck by ankle-jointed pipes, through which,when necessary, a pressure of air can be forced down upon theenclosed surface of water. Ordinarily, however, they go at greatspeed without this, the weight of the water displaced by the bellfeet being as great as that resting upon them. Thus they swingalong like a pacing horse, except that there are four rows offeet instead of two, each foot being taken out of the water as itis swung forward, the first and fourth and second and third rowsbeing worked together. Although, on account of their size, whichcovers several acres, they can go in any water, they give thebest results on Mediterraneans and lakes that are free from oceanrollers, and, under favourable conditions, make better speed thanthe nineteenth-century express trains, and, of course, goingstraight as the crow flies, and without stopping, they reach adestination in considerably shorter time.

Some passengers and express packages still cross the Atlantic on'spiders,' but most of these light cargoes go in a far pleasanterand more rapid way. The deep-displacement vessels, for heavyfreight, make little better speed than was made by the same classa hundred years ago. But they are also run entirely byelectricity, largely supplied by wind, and by the tide turningtheir motors, which become dynamos while at anchor in any stream. They therefore need no bulky boilers, engines, sails, orcoal-bunkers, and consequently can carry unprecedentedly largecargoes with comparatively small crews. The officers on thebridge and the men in the crow's nest--the way to which is by aladder INSIDE the mast, to protect the climber from theweather--are about all that is needed; while disablement is madepractically impossible, by having four screws, each with its ownset of automatically lubricating motors.

"This change, like other labour-saving appliances, at firstresulted in laying off a good many men, the least satisfactorybeing the first to go; but the increase in business was so greatthat the intelligent men were soon reemployed as officers athigher rates of pay and more interesting work than before, whilethey as consumers were benefited as much as any one else by thedecreased cost of production and transportation.

"With a view to facilitating interchange still further, ourGovernment has gradually completed the double coast-line thatNature gave us in part. This was done by connecting islandsseparated from shore by navigable water, and leaving openings foringress and exit but a few hundred yards wide. The breakwatersrequired to do this were built with cribbing of incorrodiblemetal, affixed to deeply driven metallic piles, and filled withstones along coasts where they were found in abundance or excess. This, while clearing many fields and improving them forcultivation, provided just the needed material; since irregularstones bind together firmly, and, while also insoluble, combineconsiderable bulk with weight. South of Hatteras, where stonesare scarce, the sand dredged from parts of the channel was filledinto the crib, the surface of which has a concave metallic cover,a trough of still water being often the best barrier against thepassage of waves. This double coast-line has been a greatbenefit, and propelled vessels of moderate draught can range insmooth water, carrying very full loads, from Labrador to theOrinoco. The exits are, of course, protected by a line ofcribbing a few hundred feet to seaward.

"The rocks have been removed from all channels about New York andother commercial centres, while the shallow places have beendredged to a uniform depth. This diminishes the dangers ofnavigation and considerably decreases the speed with which thetides rush through. Where the obstructions consisted of reefssurrounded by deep water, their removal with explosives was easy,the shattered fragments being allowed to sink to the bottom andremain there beneath the danger line.

"Many other great works have also been completed. The canals atNicaragua have been in operation many years, it having been foundbest to have several sizes of locks, and to use the large onesonly for the passage of large vessels. The improved Erie andChamplain Canals also enable ships four hundred feet long toreach New York from the Great Lakes via the Hudson River.

"For flying, we have an aeroplane that came in when we devised asuitable motor power. This is obtained from very lightpaper-cell batteries that combine some qualities of the primaryand secondary type, since they must first be charged from adynamo, after which they can supply full currents for one hundredhours--enough to take them around the globe--while partlyconsuming the elements in the cells. The power is appliedthrough turbine screws, half of which are capable of propellingthe flat deck in its inclined position at sufficient speed toprevent its falling. The moving parts have ball bearings andfriction rollers, lubrication being secured automatically, whenrequired, by a supply of vaseline that melts if any part becomeshot. All the framing is of thin but very durable galvanizedaluminum, which has superseded steel for every purpose in whichweight is not an advantage, as in the permanent way on railways. The air ships, whose length varies from fifty to five hundredfeet, have rudders for giving a vertical or a horizontal motion,and several strengthening keels that prevent leeway when turning. They are entirely on the principle of birds, maintainingthemselves mechanically, and differing thus from the unwieldyballoon. Starting as if on a circular railway, against the wind,they rise to a considerable height, and then, shutting off thebatteries, coast down the aerial slope at a rate that sometimestouches five hundred miles an hour. When near the ground thehelmsman directs the prow upward, and, again turning on fullcurrent, rushes up the slope at a speed that far exceeds theeagle's, each drop of two miles serving to take the machinetwenty or thirty; though, if the pilot does not wish to soar, orif there is a fair wind at a given height, he can remain in thatstratum of the atmosphere by moving horizontally. He can alsomaintain his elevation when moving very slowly, and though theheadway be entirely stopped, the descent is gradual on account ofthe aeroplane's great spread, the batteries and motors beingsecured to the under side of the deck.

"The motors are so light that they develop two horse power forevery pound of their weight; while, to keep the frames thin, thenecessary power is obtained by terrific speed of the movingparts, as though a steam engine, to avoid great pressure in itscylinders, had a long stroke and ran at great piston speed,which, however, is no disadvantage to the rotary motion of theelectric motor, there being no reciprocating cranks, etc., thatmust be started and stopped at each revolution.

"To obviate the necessity of gearing to reduce the number ofrevolutions to those possible for a large screw, this member ismade very small, and allowed to revolve three thousand times aminute, so that the requisite power is obtained with greatsimplicity of mechanism, which further decreases friction. Theshafts, and even the wires connecting the batteries with themotors, are made large and hollow. Though the primary batterypure and simple, as the result of great recent advances inchemistry, seems to be again coming up, the best aeroplanebatteries are still of the combination- storage type. These havebeen so perfected that eight ounces of battery yield one horsepower for six hours, so that two pounds of battery will supply ahorse power for twenty-four hours; a small fifty-horse-poweraeroplane being therefore able to fly four days with a batteryweight of but four hundred pounds.

"Limestone and clarified acid are the principal parts of thesebatteries. It was known long ago that there was about as muchimprisoned solar energy in limestone as in coal, but it was onlyrecently that we discovered this way of releasing and using it.

"Common salt plays an important part in many of our chemicalreactions. By combining it with limestone, and treating thiswith acid jelly, we also get good results on raising to theboiling-point.

"However enjoyable the manly sport of yachting is on water, howvastly more interesting and fascinating it is for a man to have ayacht in which he can fly to Europe in one day, and with whichthe exploration of tropical Africa or the regions about the polesis mere child's play, while giving him so magnificent abird's-eye view! Many seemingly insoluble problems are solved bythe advent of these birds. Having as their halo the enforcementof peace, they have in truth taken us a long step towards heaven,and to the co-operation and higher civilization that followed weshall owe much of the success of the great experiment on MotherEarth now about to be tried.

"Another change that came in with a rush upon the discovery of abattery with insignificant weight, compact form, and greatcapacity, was the substitution of electricity for animal powerfor the movement of all vehicles. This, of necessity brought ingood roads, the results obtainable on such being so much greaterthan on bad ones that a universal demand for them arose. Thiswas in a sense cumulative, since the better the streets and roadsbecame, the greater the inducement to have an electric carriage. The work of opening up the country far and near, by straighteningand improving existing roads, and laying out new ones thatcombine the solidity of the Appian Way with the smoothness ofmodern asphalt, was largely done by convicts, working under thedirection of State and Government engineers. Every Statecontained a horde of these unprofitable boarders, who, as theyformerly worked, interfered with honest labour, and when idle gotinto trouble. City streets had been paved by the municipality;country roads attended to by the farmers, usually veryunscientifically. Here was a field in which convict labour wouldnot compete, and an important work could be done. When once thiswas made the law, every year showed improvement, while theconvicts had useful and healthful occupation.

"The electric phaetons, as those for high speed are called, havethree and four wheels, and weigh, including battery and motor,five hundred to four thousand pounds. With hollow but immenselystrong galvanically treated aluminum frames and pneumatic orcushion tires, they run at thirty-five and forty miles an hour oncountry roads, and attain a speed over forty on city streets, andcan maintain this rate without recharging for several days. Theycan therefore roam over the roads of the entire hemisphere, fromthe fertile valley of the Peace and grey shores of Hudson Bay, tobeautiful Lake Nicaragua, the River Plate, and Patagonia,improving man by bringing him close to Nature, while they combinethe sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing thecountry well.

"To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost everytown and village, two copper pins attached to insulated copperwires are shoved into smooth-bored holes. These drop out ofthemselves by fusing a small lead ribbon, owing to the increasedresistance, when the acid in the batteries begins to 'boil,'though there is, of course, but little heat in this, the functionof charging being merely to bring about the condition in whichpart of the limestone can be consumed, the batteries themselves,when in constant use, requiring to be renewed about once a month. A handle at the box seat turns on any part of the attainablecurrent, for either going ahead or reversing, there being six oreight degrees of speed for both directions, while the steering isdone with a small wheel.

"Light but powerful batteries and motors have also been fitted onbicycles, which can act either as auxiliaries for hill-climbingor in case of head wind, or they can propel the machinealtogether.

"Gradually the width of the streets became insufficient for thetraffic, although the elimination of horses and the consequentincrease in speed greatly augmented their carrying capacity,until recently a new system came in. The whole width of theavenues and streets in the business parts of the city, includingthe former sidewalks, is given up to wheel traffic, an iron ridgeextending along the exact centre to compel vehicles to keep tothe right. Strips of nickel painted white, and showing a brightphosphorescence at night, are let into the metal pavement flushwith the surface, and run parallel to this ridge at distances often to fifteen feet, dividing each half of the avenue into fouror five sections, their width increasing as they approach themiddle. All trucks or drays moving at less than seven miles anhour are obliged to keep in the section nearest the buildingline, those running between seven and fifteen in the next,fifteen to twenty-five in the third, twenty-five to thirty-fivein the fourth, and everything faster than that in the sectionnext the ridge, unless the avenue or street is wide enough forfurther subdivisions. If it is wide enough for only four orless, the fastest vehicles must keep next the middle, and limittheir speed to the rate allowed in that section, which is markedat every crossing in white letters sufficiently large for himthat runs to read. It is therefore only in the widethoroughfares that very high speed can be attained. In additionto the crank that corresponds to a throttle, there is a gauge onevery vehicle, which shows its exact speed in miles per hour, bygearing operated by the revolutions of the wheels.

"The policemen on duty also have instantaneous kodaks mounted ontripods, which show the position of any carriage at half- andquarter-second intervals, by which it is easy to ascertain theexact speed, should the officers be unable to judge it by theeye; so there is no danger of a vehicle's speed exceeding thatallowed in the section in which it happens to be; neither can aslow one remain on the fast lines.

"Of course, to make such high speed for ordinary carriagespossible, a perfect pavement became a sine qua non. We havesecured this by the half-inch sheet of steel spread over acarefully laid surface of asphalt, with but little bevel; andthough this might be slippery for horses' feet, it neverseriously affects our wheels. There being nothing harder thanthe rubber ties of comparatively light drays upon it--for theheavy traffic is carried by electric railways under ground--itwill practically never wear out.

"With the application of steel to the entire surface, car-tracksbecame unnecessary, ordinary wheels answering as well as thosewith flanges, so that no new tracks were laid, and finally thecar companies tore up the existing ones, selling them in manyinstances to the municipalities as old iron. Our streets alsoneed but little cleaning; neither is the surface continuallyindented, as the old cobble-stones and Belgian blocks were, bythe pounding of the horses' feet, so that the substitution ofelectricity for animal power has done much to solve the problemof attractive streets.

"Scarcely a ton of coal comes to Manhattan Island or its vicinityin a year. Very little of it leaves the mines, at the mouths ofwhich it is converted into electricity and sent to the points ofconsumption by wire, where it is employed for all uses to whichfuel was put, and many others. Consequently there is no smoke,and the streets are not encumbered with coal-carts; the entirewidth being given up to carriages, etc. The ground floors in thebusiness parts are used for large warehouses, trucks running into load and unload. Pedestrians therefore have sidewalks levelwith the second story, consisting of glass floors let intoaluminum frames, while all street crossings are made on bridges. Private houses have a front door opening on the sidewalk, andanother on the ground level, so that ladies paying visits orleaving cards can do so in carriages. In business streets thesecond story is used for shops. In place of steel covering,country roads have a thick coating of cement and asphalt over afoundation of crushed stone, giving a capital surface, and have awidth of thirty-three feet (two rods) in thinly settleddistricts, to sixty-six feet (four rods) where the population isgreater. All are planted with shade and fruit trees, while thewide driveways have one or two broad sidewalks. The same rule ofmaking the slow-moving vehicles keep near the outside prevails,though the rate of increase in speed on approaching the middle ismore rapid than in cities, and there is usually no dividingridge. On reaching the top of a long and steep hill, if we donot wish to coast, we convert the motors into dynamos, whilerunning at full speed, and so change the kinetic energy of thedescent into potential in our batteries. This twentieth-centurystage-coaching is one of the delights to which we are heirs,though horses are still used by those that prefer them.

We have been much aided in our material progress by the facilitywith which we obtain the metals. It was observed, some time ago,that when artesian and oil wells had reached a considerabledepth, what appeared to be drops of lead and antimony came upwith the stream. It finally occurred to a well-borer that if hecould make his drill hard enough and get it down far enough,keeping it cool by solidified carbonic acid during theproceeding, he would reach a point at which most of the metalswould be viscous, if not actually molten, and on being freed fromthe pressure of the crust they would expand, and reach thesurface in a stream. This experiment he performed near the hotgeysers in Yellowstone Park, and what was his delight, onreaching a depth scarcely half a mile beyond his usual stopping-place, to be rewarded by a stream of metal that heralded itsapproach by a loud explosion and a great rush of superheatedsteam! It ran for a month, completely filling the bed of asmall, dried-up river, and when it did stop there were tenmillion tons in sight. This proved the feasibility of thescheme, and, though many subsequent attempts were lesssuccessful, we have learned by experience where it is best todrill, and can now obtain almost any metal we wish.

"'Magnetic eyes' are of great use to miners and Civil engineers. These instruments are something like the mariner's compass, withthe sensitiveness enormously increased by galvanic currents. The'eye,' as it were, sees what substances are underground, and atwhat distances. It also shows how many people are in anadjoining room--through the magnetic properties of the iron intheir blood--whether they are moving, and in what directions andat what speed they go. In connection with the phonograph andconcealed by draperies, it is useful to detectives, who, througha registering attachment, can obtain a record of everything saidand done.

"Our political system remains with but little change. Each Statehas still two United States Senators, though the populationrepresented by each representative has been greatly increased, sothat the Senate has grown numerically much more than the House. It is the duty of each member of Congress to understand theconditions existing in every other member's State or district,and the country's interest always precedes that of party. Wehave a comprehensive examination system in the civil service, andevery officeholder, except members of the Cabinet, retains hisoffice while efficiently performing his duty, without regard topolitics. The President can also be re-elected any number oftimes. The Cabinet members, as formerly, usually remain inoffice while he does, and appear regularly in Congress to defendtheir measures.

"The really rapid transit lines in New York are underground, andhave six tracks, two being used for freight. At all stations thelocal tracks rise several feet towards the street and slope offin both directions, while the express tracks do this only atstations at which the faster trains stop. This gives thepassengers a shorter distance to descend or rise in theelevators, and the ascent before the stations aids the brakes instopping, while the drop helps the motors to start the trainsquickly in getting away.

"Photography has also made great strides, and there is now nodifficulty in reproducing exactly the colours of the objecttaken.

"Telephones have been so improved that one person can speak inhis natural voice with another in any part of the globe, the wirethat enables him to hear also showing him the face of the speakerthough he be at the antipodes. All telephone wires beingunderground and kept by themselves, they are not interfered withby any high-tension electric-light or power wires, thunderstorms,or anything else.

"Rain-making is another subject removed from the uncertainties,and has become an absolute science. We produce clouds byexplosions in the atmosphere's heights and by surface air forcedby blowers through large pipes up the side of a mountain ornatural elevation and there discharged through an opening in thetop of a tower built on the highest part. The aeriduct isincased in a poor heat-conductor, so that the air retains itswarmth until discharged, when it is cooled by expansion and thesurrounding cold air. Condensation takes place and soon servesto start a rain.

"Yet, until the earth's axis is straightened, we must be more orless dependent on the eccentricities of the weather, withextremes of heat and cold, droughts and floods, which last are ofcourse largely the result of several months' moisture held on theground in the form of snow, the congestion being relievedsuddenly by the warm spring rains.

"Medicine and surgery have kept pace with otherimprovements--inoculation and antiseptics, as already seen,rendering most of the germ diseases and formerly dreadedepidemics impotent; while through the potency of electricalaffinity we form wholesome food-products rapidly, instead ofhaving to wait for their production by Nature's slow processes.

"The metric system, now universal, superseded the old-fashionedarbitrary standards, so prolific of mistakes and confusion, abouta century ago.

"English, as we have seen, is already the language of 600,000,000people, and the number is constantly increasing through itsadoption by the numerous races of India, where, even before theclose of the last century, it was about as important as Latinduring the greatness of Rome, and by the fact that the Spanishand Portuguese elements in Mexico and Central and South Americashow a constant tendency to die out, much as the population ofSpain fell from 30,000,000 to 17,000,000 during the nineteenthcentury. As this goes on, in the Western hemisphere, the placesleft vacant are gradually filled by the more progressiveAnglo-Saxons, so that it looks as if the study of ethnology inthe future would be very simple.

"The people with cultivation and leisure, whose number isincreasing relatively to the population at each generation, spendmuch more of their year in the country than formerly, where theyhave large and well-cultivated country seats, parts of which arealso preserved for game. This growing custom on the part ofsociety, in addition to being of great advantage to theout-of-town districts, has done much to save the forests andpreserve some forms of game that would otherwise, like thebuffalo, have become extinct.

"In astronomy we have also made tremendous strides. Theold-fashioned double-convex lens used in telescopes became soheavy as its size grew, that it bent perceptibly from its ownweight, when pointed at the zenith, distorting the vision; whilewhen it was used upon a star near the horizon, though the glasson edge kept its shape, there was too much atmosphere between itand the observed object for successful study. Our recenttelescopes have, therefore, concave plate-glass mirrors, twentymetres in diameter, like those used for converging the sun's raysin solar engines, but with curves more mathematically exact,which collect an immense amount of light and focus it on asensitive plate or on the eye of the observer, whose back isturned to the object he is studying. An electrical field alsoplays an important part, the electricity being as great an aid tolight as in the telephone it is to sound. With these placedgenerally on high mountain peaks, beyond the reach of clouds, wehave enormously increased the number of visible stars, thoughthere are still probably boundless regions that we cannot see. These telescopes have several hundred times the power of thelargest lenses of the nineteenth century, and apparently bringMars and Jupiter, when in opposition, within one thousand and tenthousand miles, respectively, so that we study their physicalgeography and topography; and we have good maps of Jupiter, andeven of Saturn, notwithstanding their distance and atmosphericenvelopes, and we are able to see the disks of third-magnitudestars.

"It seems as if, when we wish any particular discovery orinvention, in whatever field, we had but to turn our efforts inits direction to obtain our desire. We seem, in fact, to haveawakened in the scenes of the Arabian Nights; yet the mysteriousgenius which we control, and which dims Aladdin's lamp, is thegift of no fairy godmother sustained by the haze of dreams, butshines as the child of science with fadeless and growingsplendour, and may yet bring us and our little planet much closerto God.

"We should indeed be happy, living as we do at this apex ofattained civilization, with the boundless possibilities of thefuture unfolding before us, on the horizon of which we may fairlybe said to stand.

"We are freed from the rattling granite pavement of only acentury ago, which made the occupant of an omnibus feel like afly inside of a drum; from the domination of our local politicsby ignorant foreigners; and from country roads that either filledthe eyes, lungs, and hair of the unfortunates travelling uponthem with dust, or, resembling ploughed and fertilized fields,saturated and plastered them with mud. These miseries, togetherwith sea-sickness in ocean travelling, are forever passed, and wefeel that 'Excelsior!' is indeed our motto. Our new andincreasing sources of power have so stimulated production andmanufacturing that poverty or want is scarcely known; while thedevelopment of the popular demand, as a result of the suppliedneed, is so great that there is no visible limit to thediversification of industry or the possibilities of the arts.

"It may seem strange to some that apparently so disproportionatea number of inventions have been made in the last century. Thereare several reasons. Since every discovery or advance inknowledge increases our chance of obtaining more, it becomescumulative, and our progress is in geometric instead ofarithmetical ratio. Public interest and general appreciation ofthe value of time have also effectively assisted progress. Atthe beginning of each year the President, the Governors of theStates, and the Mayors of cities publish a prospectus of thegreat improvements needed, contemplated, and under way withintheir jurisdiction--it may be planning a new boulevard, a newpark, or an improved system of sewers; and at the year's end theyissue a resume of everything completed, and the progress ineverything else; and though there is usually a great differencebetween the results hoped for and those attained, the effect isgood. The newspapers publish at length the recommendations ofthe Executives, and also the results obtained, and keep up publicinterest in all important matters.

"Free to delve in the allurement and fascination of science,emancipated man goes on subduing Nature, as his Maker said heshould, and turning her giant forces to his service in hisconstant struggle to rise and become more like Him who gave thecommandments and showed him how he should go.

"Notwithstanding our strides in material progress, we are notentirely content. As the requirements of the animal become fullysupplied, we feel a need for something else. Some say this islike a child that cries for the moon, but others believe it theawakening and craving of our souls. The historian narrates butthe signs of the times, and strives to efface himself; yet thereis clearly a void, becoming yearly more apparent, whichmaterialism cannot fill. Is it some new subtle force for whichwe sigh, or would we commune with spirits? There is, so far aswe can see, no limit to our journey, and I will add, in closing,that, with the exception of religion, we have most to hope fromscience."

CHAPTER VI.

FAR-REACHING PLANS.

Knowing that the rectification of the earth's axis wassatisfactorily begun, and that each year would show an increasingimprovement in climate, many of the delegates, after hearingBearwarden's speech, set out for their homes. Those from thevalley of the Amazon and the eastern coast of South Americaboarded a lightning express that rushed them to Key West at therate of three hundred miles an hour. The railroad had sixtracks, two for through passengers, two for locals, and two forfreight. There they took a "water-spider," six hundred feet longby three hundred in width, the deck of which was one hundred feetabove the surface, which carried them over the water at the rateof a mile a minute, around the eastern end of Cuba, throughWindward Passage, and so to the South American mainland, wherethey continued their journey by rail.

The Siberian and Russian delegates, who, of course, felt a keeninterest in the company's proceedings, took a magneticdouble-ender car to Bering Strait. It was eighteen feet high,one hundred and fifty feet long, and had two stories. The upper,with a toughened glass dome running the entire length, descendedto within three feet of the floor, and afforded an unobstructedview of the rushing scenery. The rails on which it ran were tenfeet apart, the wheels being beyond the sides, like those of acarriage, and fitted with ball bearings to ridged axles. Thecar's flexibility allowed it to follow slight irregularities inthe track, while the free, independent wheels gave it a greatadvantage in rounding curves over cars with wheels and axle inone casting, in which one must slip while traversing a greater orsmaller arc than the other, except when the slope of the treadand the centrifugal force happen to correspond exactly. The factof having its supports outside instead of underneath, whileincreasing its stability, also enabled the lower floor to comemuch nearer the ground, while still the wheels were large. Arriving in just twenty hours, they ran across on an electricferry-boat, capable of carrying several dozen cars, to East Cape,Siberia, and then, by running as far north as possible, had ashort cut to Europe.

The Patagonians went by the all-rail Intercontinental Line,without change of cars, making the run of ten thousand miles inforty hours. The Australians entered a flying machine, and weresoon out of sight; while the Central Americans and members fromother States of the Union returned for the most part in theirmechanical phaetons.

"A prospective improvement in travelling," said Bearwarden, as heand his friends watched the crowd disperse, "will be when we canrise beyond the limits of the atmosphere, wait till the earthrevolves beneath us, and descend in twelve hours on the otherside."

"True," said Cortlandt, "but then we can travel westward only,and shall have to make a complete circuit when we wish to goeast."

A few days later there was a knock at President Bearwarden'sdoor, while he was seated at his desk looking over some papersand other matters. Taking his foot from a partly opened deskdrawer where it had been resting, he placed it upon the handle ofa handsome brass-mounted bellows, which proved to bearticulating, for, as he pressed, it called lustily, "Come in!" The door opened, and in walked Secretary of State Stillman,Secretary of the Navy Deepwaters, who was himself an old sailor,Dr. Cortlandt, Ayrault. Vice-President Dumby, of the T. A. S.Co., and two of the company's directors.

"Good-morning," said Bearwarden, as he shook hands with hisvisitors. "Charmed to see you."

"That's a great invention," said Secretary Stillman, examiningthe bellows. "We must get Congress to make an appropriation forits introduction in the department buildings in Washington. Youhave no idea how it dries my throat to be all the time shouting,'Come in!'"

"Do you know, Bearwarden," said Secretary Deepwaters, "I'm afraidwhen we have this millennium of climate every one will be so wellsatisfied that our friend here (pointing to Secretary Stillmanwith his thumb) will have nothing to do."

"I have sometimes thought some of the excitement will be gone,and the struggle of the 'survival of the fittest' will becomeless problematical," said Bearwarden.

"The earth seems destined to have a calm old age," saidCortlandt, "unless we can look to the Cabinet to prevent it."

"This world will soon be a dull place. I wish we could leave itfor a change," said Ayrault. "I don't mean forever, of course,but just as people have grown tired of remaining like plants inthe places in which they grew. Alan has been a caterpillar foruntold ages; can he not become the butterfly?"

"Since we have found out how to straighten the axis," saidDeepwaters, "might we not go one better, and improve the orbit aswell?--increase the difference between aphelion and perihelion,and give those that still like a changing climate a chance, whileincidentally we should see more of the world--I mean the solarsystem--and, by enlarging the parallax, be able to measure thedistance of a greater number of fixed stars. Put your helm harddown and shout 'Hard-a-lee!' You see, there is nothing simpler. You keep her off now, and six months hence you let her luff."

"That's an idea!" said Bearwarden. "Our orbit could be enoughlike that of a comet to cross the orbits of both Venus and Mars;and the climatic extremes would not be inconvenient. The wholeearth being simultaneously warmed or cooled, there would be noequinoctials or storms resulting from changes on one part of thesurface from intense heat to intense cold; every part would havea twelve-hour day and night, and none would be turned towards orfrom the sun for six months at a time; for, however eccentric theorbit, we should keep the axis absolutely straight. Atperihelion there would simply be increased evaporation and cloudsnear the equator, which would shield those regions from the sun,only to disappear again as the earth receded.

"The only trouble," said Cortlandt, "is that we should have nofulcrum. Straightening the axis is simple enough, for we havethe attraction of the sun with which to work, and we have but toincrease it at one end while decreasing it at the other, andchange this as the poles change their inclination towards thesun, to bring it about. If a comet with a sufficiently largehead would but come along and retard us, or opportunely give us apull, or if we could increase the attraction of the other planetsfor us, or decrease it at times, it might be done. If the force,the control of which was discovered too late to help usstraighten the axis, could be applied on a sufficiently largescale; if apergy----"

"I have it!" exclaimed Ayrault, jumping up. "Apergy will do it. We can build an airtight projectile, hermetically seal ourselveswithin, and charge it in such a way that it will be repelled bythe magnetism of the earth, and it will be forced from it withequal or greater violence than that with which it is ordinarilyattracted. I believe the earth has but the same relation tospace that the individual molecule has to any solid, liquid, orgaseous matter we know; and that, just as molecules strive to flyapart on the application of heat, this earth will repel thatprojectile when electricity, which we are coming to look upon asanother form of heat, is properly applied. It must be so, and itis the manifest destiny of the race to improve it. Man is aspirit cursed with a mortal body, which glues him to the earth,and his yearning to rise, which is innate, is, I believe, only apart of his probation and trial."

"Show us how it can be done," shouted his listeners in chorus.

"Apergy is and must be able to do it," Ayrault continued. "Throughout Nature we find a system of compensation. Thecentripetal force is offset by the centrifugal; and when,according to the fable, the crystal complained of its hard lot inbeing unable to move, while the eagle could soar through theupper air and see all the glories of the world, the bird replied,'My life is but for a moment, while you, set in the rock, willlive forever, and will see the last sunrise that flashes upon theearth.'

"We know that Christ, while walking on the waves, did not sink,and that he and Elijah were carried up into heaven. What becameof their material bodies we cannot tell, but they were certainlysuperior to the force of gravitation. We have no reason tobelieve that in miracles any natural law was broken, or even setaside, but simply that some other law, whose workings we do notunderstand, became operative and modified the law that otherwisewould have had things its own way. In apergy we undoubtedly havethe counterpart of gravitation, which must exist, or Nature'ssystem of compensation is broken. May we not believe that inChrist's transfiguration on the mount, and in the appearance ofMoses and Elias with him--doubtless in the flesh, since otherwisemortal eyes could not have seen them--apergy came into play andupheld them; that otherwise, and if no other modification hadintervened, they would have fallen to the ground; and that apergywas, in other words, the working principle of those miracles?"

"May we not also believe," added Cortlandt, "that in thetransfiguration Christ's companions took the substance of theirmaterial bodies--the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon--fromthe air and the moisture it contained; for, though spiritualbodies, be their activity magnetic or any other, could of coursepass the absolute cold and void of space without being affected,no mortal body could; and that in the same manner Elijah's bodydissolved into air without the usual intervention ofdecomposition; for we know that, though matter can easily changeits form, it can never be destroyed."

All assented to this, and Ayrault continued: "If apergy canannul gravitation, I do not see why it should not do more, for toannul it the repulsion of the earth that it produces must be asgreat as its attraction, unless we suppose gravitation for thetime being to be suspended; but whether it is or not, does notaffect the result in this case, for, after the apergeticrepulsion is brought to the degree at which a body does not fall,any increase in the current's strength will cause it to rise, andin the case of electro-magnets we know that the attraction orrepulsion has practically no limit. This will be of greatadvantage to us," he continued, "for if a projectile could moveaway from the earth with no more rapid acceleration than thatwith which it approaches, it would take too long to reach thenearest planet, but the maximum repulsion being at the start byreason of its proximity to the earth--for apergy, being thecounterpart of gravitation, is subject to Newton's and Kepler'slaws--the acceleration of a body apergetically charged will begreatest at first. Two inclined planes may have the same fall,but a ball will reach the bottom of one that is steepest near thetop in less time than on any other, because the maximumacceleration is at the start. We are all tired of being stuck tothis cosmical speck, with its monotonous ocean, leaden sky, andsingle moon that is useless more than half the time, while itssize is so microscopic compared with the universe that we cantraverse its great circle in four days. Its possibilities areexhausted; and just as Greece became too small for thecivilization of the Greeks, and as reproduction is growth beyondthe individual, so it seems to me that the future glory of thehuman race lies in exploring at least the solar system, withoutwaiting to become shades."

"Should you propose to go to Mars or Venus?" asked Cortlandt.

"No," replied Ayrault, "we know all about Mars; it is but oneseventh the size of the earth, and as the axis is inclined morethan ours, it would be a less comfortable globe than this; while,as our president here told us in his T. A. S. Company's report,the axis of Venus is inclined to such a degree that it would bealmost uninhabitable for us. It would be as if colonists triedto settle Greenland, or had come to North America during itsGlacial period. Neither Venus nor Mars would be a good placenow."

"Where should you propose to go?" asked Stillman.

"To Jupiter, and, if possible, after that to Saturn," repliedAyrault; "the former's mean distance from the sun is 480,000,000miles; but, as our president showed us, its axis is so nearlystraight that I think, with its internal warmth, there will benothing to fear from cold. Though, on account of the planet'svast size, objects on its surface weigh more than twice as muchas here, if I am able to reach it by means of apergy, the sameforce will enable me to regulate my weight. Will any one go withme?"